A fatal stabbing at a house party in Westville was New Haven’s 22nd murder of the year.

New Haven Police Department officers responded to the emergency room at St. Raphael’s Hopsital at 12:10 a.m. Sunday to find Josiah J. Alexander suffering from multiple stab wounds to the chest, NHPD spokesman Joe Avery said in an e-mail. Alexander later died from his injuries. The city’s 22 murders far exceed 2009’s year-end total of 12, and is approaching 2008’s total of 23.

Detectives from the NHPD’s Major Crimes Unit located several witnesses to the murder and found and secured a crime scene at 15 Westerleigh Road in Westville, Avery said. Detectives then determined that a suspect in the crime, Daniel Petrillo, resided at the house where the stabbing took place and that Petrillo was armed with a handgun.

The SWAT team deployed and successfully apprehended Petrillo, and he was taken into custody and charged with murder, Avery said. He added that the murder appeared to be related to an argument between the two men at a party at Petrillo’s home. The investigation is still ongoing.